Having nearly all players in their squad who suffered Covid recovered, the Chiefs are looking forward to putting the pandemic behind them and using Sunday's Super Rugby Pacific game against the Hurricanes as the beginning of the rest of their season.

Assistant coach Nick White said that was welcomed by the players, coaches, management and the fans alike.

White said the team's review of the Crusaders' loss had been good. It showed how much pressure went on the Chiefs at the breakdown and their need to improve their kicking game, not only the kickers but the other team members in their support of kicks.

They needed to know their roles and not be off their game by even the slightest of margins because the cost was too high.

And, they could not afford to lower their sights against what he regarded as a good Hurricanes team.

"They've got guys who are good over the ball at the breakdown – [DuPlessis] Kirifi, Ardie Savea – so, if we don't sort that out it will be another hard night," he said.

The Hurricanes also showed their scoring potential against the Blues.

 

 

"They can score from anywhere, and they don't need a lot of time to do it, so the main thing for us is to focus on our game and make sure we get our stuff right,  and it will give us a chance to go down there and compete and, hopefully, get a win.

"They'll be hurting after that loss against Moana and they'll be fired up to put on a good performance back at home too," he said.

The Chiefs would also be doing without All Blacks lock Brodie Retallick who is out for 6-8 weeks with a broken thumb.

"If you take Brodie out of any team, it is going to be a loss. But we're lucky here, we've got four other locks that are bloody good locks so it will be good competition for those four to try to get that starting spot and one off the bench.

"We're fortunate to have that cover. We'll get Brodie back at some stage, just when it is I don't know. We'll have to forge ahead, that's life, you do get injuries and you keep going," he said.